DeKalb, IL: After being honored as Veteran City of the Year in Illinois this past July, the selection committee of the 40&8 veterans organization selected DeKalb as the 2023 National City of the Year on September 15.
The purpose of the award from the National 40&8 Veterans Organization is to recognize a city or community for its efforts to honor veterans or veteran families. The chosen city must have performed outstanding service while bringing honor to local, regional, state, or national veteran programs.
“Our national award committee was extremely impressed with the efforts of the City of DeKalb supporting veterans and veteran projects,” commented 40&8 Award Chair Wayne Sorrentino. “The City’s efforts to support not only veterans and veteran families, but to get veterans honored and to acknowledge them in the community are outstanding.”
US Air Force veteran Michael Embrey accepted the award on behalf of the City at the 40&8 convention held in Sandusky, Ohio from Sept. 12-16.
“We can never do enough to support and honor our veterans for their service, sacrifice, and willingness to serve their country as well as those who gave their lives for something greater than themselves,” commented Michael Embrey during the acceptance speech. “Our military commitment to our country by men and women service members humbles me daily. It is more than just saying, ‘thank you for your service.’”
DeKalb Mayor Cohen Barnes said he is proud of the City’s work to recognize veterans and thanked Embrey for his veterans advocacy.
“As you drive around the City of DeKalb you can see and experience a variety of veterans projects that the City has helped orchestrate and support,” stated Barnes, a veteran of the US Army. “Embrey has been instrumental in pushing a campaign to get DeKalb selected as the State of Illinois and National Veteran City of the Year, to create local veteran attractions, military banners, and most recently the new DeKalb Veterans Memorial located on the grounds of the DeKalb ELKS Lodge – as well as new memorials and events yet to be announced. We are truly a veteran City with people who care.”
“Honoring your country and its veterans is more than a passing commitment,” said Embrey. “It means you stand tall and still get goosebumps when you hear the National Anthem being sung, and the spirit of patriotism lifts your heart when you fly the American Flag for Memorial Day, 4th of July, and Veterans Day.”
The 40&8 organization is an independent, by invitation, honor society of American veterans, more commonly known as “The Forty & Eight.” The City of the Year honor goes to a city, town, or community that exemplifies the true meaning of Americanism and patriotism. The Forty & Eight is committed to charitable and patriotic aims. Its official name is “La Société des Quarante Hommes et Huit Chevaux,” which is French, and translates as “The Society of Forty Men and Eight Horses.” The nonprofit organization, headquartered in Indianapolis, is made up of state, U.S. territory, and overseas groups, and these are in turn made up of local chapters. This veterans organization started after the end of World War I in 1919, to honor both the French nurses who treated the American GI and help fund scholarships for the children of deceased veterans. Its website is fortyandeight.org
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